Loke Rahbek - City of Women (2017)

Editions Mego spring something of a surprise with this powerful and moving solo album from Posh Isolationist Loke Rahbek.

Echoing the growing influence Copenhagen’s Posh Isolation have had in recent years, label co-founder and creative instigator behind many of their acts Loke Rahbek steps out with a debut solo album on Editions Mego. Assembled over the course of 2014-16 at Stockholm’s fabled EMS studios and Rahbek’s Posh Isolation base in Copenhagen, ‘City Of Women’ effectively distils aspects of the various PI projects Rahbek has been involved in over the past few years to deliver a nine-track collection that defies easy categorisation.

There is romance here in this mythical city, witnessed in Rahbek’s sumptuous piano playing in both Fermented and A Word A Day, whilst his obvious mastery of channelling extreme noise to evoke an emotional response is evident in the title track or album opener Like A Still Pool.

Pitched somewhere between a wistful Varg and the post-Hype Williams abstraction of John T Gast, this is a fine statement of intent from Rahbek on perhaps his strongest and most longlasting production to date.